Mono-Red Political Control!?

Commander / EDH Control Custom Mono-Red

NotaNetDeck

Creature (12)

• 1x Balefire Dragon
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Fortune Thief
• 1x Goblin Sharpshooter
• 1x Godo, Bandit Warlord
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• 1x Magmatic Force
• 1x Magus of the Arena
• 1x Mogg Assassin
• 1x Starke of Rath
• 1x Viashino Heretic

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Chandra, Pyromaster
• 1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

Land (35)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Kher Keep
• 1x Mage-Ring Network
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Mystifying Maze
• 26x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 1x Spinerock Knoll
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Thawing Glaciers

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Bitter Feud
• 1x Burning Earth
• 1x Mindmoil
• 1x Outpost Siege
• 1x Price of Glory
• 1x Repercussion
• 1x Smoke
• 1x Stranglehold
• 1x Vicious Shadows
• 1x War's Toll

Artifact (25)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Coldsteel Heart
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Fire Diamond
• 1x Gauntlet of Might
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x General's Kabuto
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Web
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Nin
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Thran Dynamo
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Instant (7)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Commune with Lava
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Reiterate
• 1x Shattering Pulse
• 1x Starstorm

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Fiery Confluence
• 1x Incite Rebellion
• 1x Insurrection
• 1x Mob Rule
• 1x Rolling Earthquake
• 1x Vandalblast

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Creature (10)

• 1x Capricious Efreet
• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Hellkite Tyrant
• 1x Hoarding Dragon
• 1x Mindclaw Shaman
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Stuffy Doll
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Karn Liberated
• 1x Koth of the Hammer
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Land (4)

• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Flamekin Village
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Blood Moon
• 1x Burning Earth
• 1x Burning Sands
• 1x Curse of Bloodletting
• 1x Glacial Crevasses
• 1x Pyrohemia
• 1x Total War

Artifact (6)

• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Farsight Mask
• 1x Magebane Armor
• 1x Mimic Vat
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Sword of War and Peace

Instant (6)

• 1x Fissure
• 1x Reroute
• 1x Reverberate
• 1x Shunt
• 1x Volcanic Offering
• 1x Wild Ricochet

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Aftershock
• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Earthquake
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Molten Disaster
• 1x Titan's Revenge
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Wheel of Misfortune

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Political Diaochan, Artful Beauty EDH.

(Full description is pending).

When I heard the Commander 2015 set wasn't going to be available on MTGO, I was pretty disappointed, despite the lack of bombs in the set. When I found out new cards would still be available online through Legendary Cube Prizes, I thought it was some compensation. When I realized they were reprinting Diaochan, Artful Beauty, I was ecstatic. The second EDH deck I designed had her at the helm, but because of her virtually nonexistent print run prior to this set, I opted for Starke of Rath instead. Diaochan is amazing because her ability is unique -- rarely is red able to destroy creatures, let alone more than one at a time in a politically potent way. Let's break her ability down.

It says target twice: you and an opponent of your choice each choose a target. This means you can choose the same creature, which is redundant and might happen in 1v1/if your opponent has to choose one of their own creatures. Since you control the ability, hexproof won't protect Diaochan--often your only creature--from being chosen. Instead, she needs indestructible, protection from red, or shroud, which are attainable from various equipment. Because of this, Diaochan is strongest when she's protected and there are two or more targets and opponents.

I anticipated that this deck would have a problem winning, but the low creature count is necessary to keep Diaochan powerful. There are a few (noncreature) win cons, though: Repercussion, Vicious Shadows, Mob Rule and Insurrection. They can be grouped into killing and stealing creatures, but Repercussion is a little different from the rest.

This deck aims to play politically, making at only one enemy at a time and at least one ally. A play style especially common to this deck, therefore, is being stingy with your plays, holding cards in your hand. Playing threats early will draw hate, and even non-threats are at risk of being wrathed. This is especially evident with Repercussion, playable in the early game but also liable to get you killed then. It's extremely powerful in combination with damage-based wraths (see Blasphemous Act), but it's symmetrical and threatening nature will almost certainly make you lose if you play it early. The lack of board presence not playing spells provides makes a player easy to overlook and at the same time, is something control doesn't mind doing.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 2 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.74
Tokens	Emblem Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1 R, Morph 2/2 C, Ogre 3/3 R